Leeds City Council has agreed to pilot fortnightly black bin collections in an attempt to increase recycling.

The scheme will initially take place in one area of the city and will also see green bins emptied once a fortnight instead of once a month.

The plan has been rubber-stamped by the council's executive board.

Councillor Mark Dobson, member for environmental services, said: "Recycling is good for the city's environment and its purse."

The council has to meet a recycling target of 55% of the city's waste by 2016.

Mr Dobson said: "There's a real public will in Leeds to recycle more and waste less.

"I get asked a lot why we are spending money on weekly black bin collections instead of on more recycling collections when the city would also save cash on the massive taxes on sending rubbish that can't be recycled to landfill.

"We're proud of what we've achieved so far but we are responding to repeated requests to put more work into pushing up recycling rates even further."